


Falling In Reverse

by murderm4chine



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossing Alternate Realities, Freeform, Gen, Mild torture, POV Second Person, Physical Abuse, Rev!Bill is known as William, Reverse Falls, Reverse Pines, Tags will be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-24 01:25:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4900225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murderm4chine/pseuds/murderm4chine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bill is tired of everything. So as a last resort he uses the last of his magic to summon an alternate version of himself to destroy the Pine Twins once and for all. </p>
<p>Takes place during the climax of ‘Sock Opera’</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. WILLIAM

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pantsing this entire thing just to release some pent up stress and I've wanted to do something for Reverse Falls AU for so long. I'm curious to see how this ends.

“Did you honestly expect that to work, William?”

  
Honestly, you didn’t care if it worked or not. You just wanted to try, so at least you could say you gave yourself a fighting chance. Well, you tried and you failed. Now you’re burnt out. You hold out a hand and it’s gone transparent. Through your fingers, you see Pines make a familiar gesture. A leash of fire threads through the air between you and wraps around your wrists. It burns like ice but you know better than to complain.

Mabel’s leaning over your circle, scrutinizing it, careful not to touch the lines with her feet.

  
“We should give him some credit, Dip. This was not something he did overnight.”

  
Pines turns to you. “Well?” he asks. When you don’t reply, he kicks you. You squeak when the leash cuts into your skin like barbed wire.

  
“How long were you working on this?” he asks again.

“A – a week,” you lie.

  
Mabel looks you in the eye. She saw the lunar markings. She knows you’ve been at this for two lunar cycles. You find yourself thanking a god you don’t believe in when she says nothing.

  
You’re exhausted. You’re tired. You used up all your power into this last-ditch attempt at freedom. You fall down to earth with a flop and you couldn’t care less when Pines starts dragging you against the wooden floors like a dead dog.

  
He jumps off the stage of the theatre and tugs you along so you fall sharply again. Somewhere down along the way you’ve lost even more tangibility, so your body doesn’t make a sound when you hit the ground.

  
“Pathetic,” says Pines.

  
“Guess we have no choice but to burn the theatre,” Mabel says “We can’t have this lying around.” She’s already produced a box of matches. She strikes one against the flint, and it burns cerulean flame, the brightest thing you know. From where you are, it looks like she’s in the spotlight, an ominous glow casted against her features.She lets the match fall. You shut your eyes. You can’t bear to see your hard work destroyed.

  
Then comes the sound of a universe being ripped in half.

  
Against the noise of a chainsaw against your ear, you take small delight in hearing the twins shriek in the background. But you don’t let yourself hope yet.

  
“Get out of my brother’s body!”

  
That sounds like Mabel, but not the Mabel you know. You open an eye tentatively at first, then all at once.

  
It’s the twins, but they’re… fighting. She’s over him like a cat and they’re wrestling over a book. They’re screaming at each other like Pines twins never would. You push yourself up to the side so you can see the spectacle just a bit better

  
“What the hell is this?!” Pines steps forward and raises a hand cast in blue flame. The other twins are lifted off the stage. When they fail to stop fighting, Pines separates them in mid-air.

  
“A’ah!” Other Mabel screams and clutches the book. Your eyes widen just a bit when you recognize it.

  
The other Pines stills himself. He looks at the twins. Then at you. Then he clutches his stomach and starts laughing and wheezing uncontrollably. He sounds like you once did.

  
“First I get a physical body and now I get summoned by an alternate version of myself from another dimension? Oh what a day, what a day!”

  
He effortlessly releases himself from the force field and lands lightly on the ground. The Other Mabel looks like a scared child, and it looks completely foreign on her. But this Pines looks like your Pines on a bad day. You find yourself shaking when he approaches you.

“Hi, Bill. I’m Bill! How can I help you?”

  
Pines comes between you two. There’s a height difference between him and the other Pines, but it feels like nothing when the smaller Pines looks up at him and grins.

  
“And you must be the alternate Pine Tree. How’s it going?”

  
Pines narrows his eyes at him and grins back.

  
“Mabel, how about this?” he says without looking away. “Two Ciphers for the price of nothing.”

  
The other Mabel finally finds her tongue. “What’s going on?” she stammers out. Her eyes flick between the four of them uneasily.

  
“Dip, let her go.”

  
Still not looking away from the other Bill, he snaps his fingers and Other Mabel falls to the ground with an ‘oomph’. Mabel helps her to her feet. Other Mabel hugs the journal closer to her. Good girl, she knows it’s important.

  
“Look, as fun as this meeting is, I’ve got a deal to make,” says the other you, who for some reason is wearing the other Pines. (You admit that you are slightly in awe of that.) He looks at you from around Pines. “So how about it, sport? Why don’t you tell me what you need?”

  
“Don’t say anything, William,” says Pines warningly.

  
“William? Oh what a laugh. I just have to know what led to _that_. Why are you wearing that stupid leash anyway?”

  
You must look scared, or something equally pitiful, because the other Pines takes a step backward so he can laugh again.

  
“This is just wonderful. I could’ve gone the rest of my life without knowing another me became a pawn to a complete loser.”

  
“Ditto to me,” says Pines. He reaches a hand up to the stone that hung from his neck. He stops halfway through and a look of surprise flickers across his features.

“Nuh-uh. Not letting that happen, Pine Tree. Not in this universe, nor any other. Spit it out, _William_. What do you need?”

  
Pines is paralyzed. Mabel is still on the stage and her eyes are beginning to glow softly. Other Mabel is cowering behind her.

  
“Get rid of the Pine Twins!” you shout. You point to your tormentors. Pines glares. Mabel raises her hands. They’re aflame.

  
“Sure, but we need to take care of something first.”

  
There’s a flash of yellow light and you’re blinded. You feel the cold chains being eased off your wrist and you’re grabbed by a warm hand instead. You realized you’re being pulled out into the night air as a breeze moves against you.

  
The next thing you know, you’re being thrown to the forest floor, and a foot is pressed into you.

  
The face of the other Pines leers over you.

  
“I could get rid of them but I don’t think I want to,” he says.

  
“I summoned you. You’re obligated to me,” you remind him. It’s been a while but you remember your principles.

  
He presses down harder and you yelp.

  
“I don’t owe myself anything. In fact I think you’re the one I want to get rid of. You’re an embarrassment to Bill Ciphers everywhere, and I’ve got a duty to protect the brand name.”

  
Pines contract is tugging at you, and it’s like resisting the pull of a freight train. It hurts. You hurt. The foot is getting heavier. You think you’ve reached the end of your rope.

  
You hold out a hand that’s now aflame.

  
“Destroy the twins and this realm is yours,” you say, keeping your voice as neutral as possible. No slip of a desperation.

  
He pauses, mulls it over, then smiles. His Pines’ face is sweet and innocent, a token of what could’ve been. He steps off you. You float up so you’re face to face.

  
“No.”


	2. BILL

How many people in the universe can proudly say they've literally beaten themselves up? The answer is, not many. And up until recently, you were one of those poor sods. But now you can go to your home realm and boast about this new accomplishment of yours.

There's blood on your hands. It's not William's blood of course. He managed to manifest himself on the physical plane but demons don't bleed. It's all Pine Tree's. You've worn his hands beyond devastation. You'd forgotten what broken bones felt like so you just kept going until one of the carpal bones had lodged inside William and sent electricity singing up your arm.

Now William is pinned up against one of the trees. Impaled in place by one of the branches. He's sagging like a wet rag and you'd think he'd cry if he had a lick more of consciousness. You feel embarrassed, you really do.

You had resisted the urge to scream "Stop hitting yourself!" at him and now you mourn the lost chance. You use your jacket to clean the blood off your face and you take delight when all of Pines' senses scream at you to stop moving. Human bodies are so delicate.

You chuckle to yourself and William musters the last of his strength to make puppy eyes at you. You wriggle Pines' wrangled fingers at him and work on pushing the bones pack into the right position, or what you assume to be the right position. Who cares anyway?

You're a little surprised he lasted your abuse as long as he did. He's been sucked dry by this universe's Pine twins and you kept expecting him to disappear from under your fist. Something must be rooting him in place.

You're also surprised you were able to keep going for as long you did. You were expecting to be interrupted by his Pine twins or your Shooting Star. But they hadn't even bothering following you, even after they heard William order you to destroy them. Their confidence would worry but you're busy having too much fun.

You didn't notice the absence of your Pine Tree until halfway into your cavort. You had taken a moment to recall whether or not he had followed you through the inter-dimensional tear.

Probably not. Heh. Poor kid's going to be worried sick over his body. You look at his hands. There's really no point ever returning it in this state. You're sure he'll adjust to wearing a sock puppet in no time.

William coughs. You idly wonder what he could possibly be coughing.

"So,  _William_." You grin. You still find it hilarious. "Tell me something before you're wiped away into non-existence."

"Fuck you," he spits out.

You put your hands to your mouth. "Language, language. What would the children think?"

He doesn't say anything so you continue your question. "What I want to know is how, of all the number of infinite Bill Ciphers, you're the only one who managed to tear a hole between dimensions. Just tell me. How. HOW."

Oops, you hadn't meant to do that.

William's shaking. The pathetic thing's  _shaking._  You decide to tone it down, for both your benefits.

You place a gentle hand against his face. "Only the two of us will ever know," you croon.

He gulps.

"If you won't destroy the twins, destroy me please."

You back away. You look to the night sky where the moon is in its final waning phase. Then you swivel round and backhand him.

"Not an option!" you say with a glee that's not half-faked while he's wheezing. "I could go all night and so can you apparently. But we've got plans to fulfil, you and I. Why can't you do the good thing and make it easier for the both of us?"

"Just let me go," he whimpers.

You sigh.

"Welp. You've had your chance, woobie!"

He says something.

"Come again?" you ask.

"I said, we all had our chance. We threw it away," he says. He seems to melt further into the tree, if that's possible.

Suddenly, you get it.

"So you're one of the infinity over 64 of us who kept mourning," you tease. "You know I'd thought that I had the lowest opinion of you I possibly could but congratulations, you've sunk lower." You give him a playful ruffle on his head.

Poor guy looks devastated. You run a hand through Pine Tree's hair, a gesture you understand humans do when they're exasperated.

"You know, me. I'm going to tell one thing before I personally get rid of your sorry, soggy existence. Move the hell on! They can't come back. No point whining. Capiche? Any deathless being who dies probably deserved it!"

He lifts his head up and you're taken aback by the intensity of his glare.

"They were our family!"

"THEY WERE USELESS!"

You're on him before you realize it and the next thing you know, you're raining a barrage of punches down on him. He stops moving but you keep going. Pine Tree's fingers break again under the strain but that doesn't stop you either. You keep throwing punches until you're out of energy. You don't get it. You just drop to your knees and you can't lift a finger anymore. Your head droops against him.

"They were useless," you repeat.

You don't feel him move until he's already kicked you in the face. Pine Tree's nose breaks and you're thrown flat on your back. He's on top of you quickly enough.

"THEY. WERE. OUR. **FAMILY**!" He accentuates each word with a punch to your face. You feel something crack in the skull. You push up against him. He gives one final kick to the ribcage and something else breaks in there. You groan and roll over. You're not liking the pain as much as you initially did.

You hear his voice again and it's further away.

"Deal's off!" he screams.

You stand up and lean against the tree he had been pinned to.

"Whatever," you say. You had other plans anyway.


	3. PINES

You'd been listening to the little exchange but it told you nothing you didn't already know. When Cipher digressed into nothing but torturing little William you'd tuned out completely. Listening to William whimper and plead was just no longer satisfying anymore, not when you heard it on a day to day basis.

So you paid attention to your sisters.

In spite of the shock of being thrust into an alternate reality, Mabel is in a pretty good mood. The Other Mabel, that is. Your Mabel just looks pissed.

The three of you are seated in a horse-shape around the fireplace above your theatre. You lean forward and looked interested as Mabel tells you about her reality, one where apparently you had been allowed to keep your childish curiosity. Your enthusiasm isn't faked. You knew about the possibility of alternate realities but here you have living, solid proof that it's real and it's just as fucked up as you could've imagined.

Mabel hasn't said a word in a while. She just grimaces at the fire every so often whenever Mabel mentions her own hobbies and interest.

"Mabel, please pass the cookies over here," you say when you have the chance. Both of them reach for the plate.

"Uhh …" says Mabel.

Mabel snaps her hand back and crosses her arms as she leans back into her seat. Mabel may be the one to retain her child-like nature but it's your sister who's acting petulant today.

"Um – Oh, I know. We could call you Mabel, and we could call me Hambone," suggests Mabel, pointing to your sister then herself.

You laugh. "I couldn't say that with a straight face. Why not we just call you…" You rattle your brains for a name.

"Amable?" you venture at last. Close enough but a noticeable inflexion.

Your sister purses her lips in a way that makes you think she's reciting a dooming spell in her mind.

"Why does she get to keep her name?"

"Because she's adorable and it suits her," you tell her. Mabel looks flattered.

"Fine," Amable sighs.

"If you don't like it then you could choose your own," Mabel insists.

"No, it's alright" At least she attempts a smile.

Mabel and Amable. You look from one to the other and you can't believe they're the same people.

"So what happened to the Shack?" Mabel asks in between bites of her cookie.

"Stan stays there now. The business is still open but he doesn't get many customers," you say. "He refuses to close it down."

"We're the main attraction now," your sister smirks.

"Oh that explains the outfits!" Mabel exclaims. "I mean, I would've never thought Dipper would wear a cape, even ironically."

You flair the cape a bit. "Yup, just for show. We're magicians."

"Honestly, I would've never seen myself and Dipper helping Gideon."

"Who's Gideon?" you ask.

"Um, he's the kid who owns the Tent of Telepathy?"

"We own the Tent," says Amable.

"All year round?"

Amable begins to nod but you signal her to stop. You can see Mabel beginning to become unsettled. You decide to change the subject before you delve any deeper.

You so desperately want to ask about your parents.

"So who's this Gideon person?" you ask instead.

She tells you. Mabel's a lively girl and you like to watch her expressions as they go from bright and wide-eyed to briefly annoyed and back to cheery as she narrates her story. By comparison, your sister barely moves. Her plate of snacks remains untouched.

On the other side, you watch as William throws Bill Cipher to the ground and go at him like a madman. You wince a little as you see the image of your own face bloodied and abused. William will pay for that later.

He's starting to head towards the Tent.

"Excuse me," you say and you stand up. "I think I found William."

"Finally!" Mabel starts to get up as well.

"No, no," you say quickly and you push her down by the shoulder. "I can handle him myself."

"But Dipper-"

"Will return safe and sound." You hate yourself for lying to her like that, especially when she looks at you with such puppy eyes.

"I promise," you assure her.

"Okay," she says quietly.

Amable is seething at you silently, you can feel it.

"You ladies enjoy yourself."

"Ooh, so polite," you hear Mabel say as you leave. You smile. God, you love her.

Them.

You take a casual stroll outside. Morning's a long way away and the moon hangs dully over the forest, limning the leaves in silver.

"Hello, William," you say.

He's never looked worse. He's broken, limping, cradling a hole that's been torn right through him. He's panting like a dog and doesn't reply. He just stares at you through eyes glazed over.

"Can't imagine why you'd come back," you remark conversationally, walking towards him. He doesn't back away.

You stop. You sigh. You reach into the folds of your cloak and pull out the journal.

"Was it for this?"

His eyes widen as the gleam of gold foil becomes apparent against moonlight. He lunges and you lash with your cane. It strikes him and he slips. You hit again and he falls onto the ground. With your foot you flip him over so he's on his back facing you. You rest the black tip of the cane against his eye and you lean your weight on his leg.

He still hasn't made a noise. You press harder and he squeaks.

You take the moment to inspect the journal. You hadn't had the chance since you slipped it away from Mabel.

"Journal number 3." You wave it in front of his face. "The most useless of all of them."

You hold it by a corner and its pages flutter open. Dipper's loose notes fall out and land on William's face.

"A whole lot of good it would've done you. What were you hoping for? A way out of our contract?" You shake the book some more when you see William's focus waning.

You let your cane fall and it lands with a thud. You snap your fingers until a blue flame flicks out of your fingers. You hold it to the book.

William's begun shaking beneath you and you wonder why he isn't speaking yet.

The edge of the sheets begin to smoke as the flames come closer. William flails and grabs your leg.

"Aren't you going to stop me, William? Don't you want a way out?"

The hands around your ankles are growing warmer. You loosen your hand and the flame dies.

"I'm just kidding." You intend to give the journal back to Mabel.

You stuff the book back into your cloak and release your foot. William rolls and scrambles upright.

"Don't forget," you say. "You're mine forever."

You head back the way he came, taking a guess as to where the other Cipher would go.

"Let's go, we have a 'Bipper' to save."

William's a loyal dog even without a leash. It surprises you when he doesn't follow. You turn around and he's leaned over limply on the ground.

"Don't make me call you twice," you say, and you know your eyes are glowing an unnatural blue. Take warning, Will.

"No," he whispers and you barely catch it.

You laugh. "Feeling gutsy today, are we?" You take a step towards him and leaves crunch underfoot. You raise a hand ready to produce a leash. Then he moves.

The next moment is a blur, like tumbling down a hill and the world's spinning too fast to see anything. Your whole body feels a sharp, burning sensation, like a thousand white hot needles pushing into your skin, ripping you apart.

When you open your eyes, you see yourself. Now you see your eyes burning yellow, and you see yourself hunched over, hands on your knees, and panting heavily. You reach out and your hand goes right through your own chest.

"Cipher!" you shout.

Your face looks up and you're treated to the sight of watching it crack into a large grin.

"This feels marvelous!"

"William," you warn. But you're powerless without your amulets. And he knows that.

Impossibly, he smiles wider.

"You know, seeing my other self reminded me of something. I am so much BETTER THAN YOU."

Maybe you wince.

"And you know what else," he continues without pause, and his voice is gaining that nasty tenor you thought you'd wiped out. "I am better than him. I'm better than all of you. I'm motherfucking infinite."

"William, when I get my body back I swear – "

He raises a hand and you gag, like hot tar's been poured down your throat. You cough uncontrollably trying to get it out, although you know there's nothing there.

"Not William," he whispers. "Bill. Bill Cipher."

"And what," you rasp. "What are you going to do now?"

He grabs the amulet around your neck.

"This."

"No, WAIT!" You make a futile grab as he throws the stone down. It shatters. He grinds it underfoot.

"It feels good, Pines. I didn't even know I was waiting for this."

He marches away and you float after him.

"Congratulations," you hiss. "You've broken one of many."

"And soon there'll be none," he says calmly. He isn't heading towards the Tent.

"And where the fuck do you think you're going?" you ask.

He's been conditioned to answer you, so he answers you. "I'm going to give Bill a taste of his own medicine."


	4. MABLE

Alternate Reality Version of Dipper leaves the room and a saturated silence fills the space between you and your counterpart. You become acutely aware of your own chewing noises and you hastily swallow. Other you says nothing at all. She just stares at the fire and the shadows, drinking her tea, acting like you're not even in the room.

"So, um," you start. She glances sideways at you with what looks like contempt and you shut up before you even know what you're going to say.

You twiddle your thumbs. You pull at the hem of sweater. Your arms feel empty and you wish you had Waddles to hug.

"Stop that!" Amable snaps when you start fidgeting with your fingers.

You start to mutter an apology but then you decide differently. You sit up and square your shoulders.

"So what's the problem here?" you demand.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do! Ever since I got here you've been looking at me like you hate me."

She crosses her arms and focuses her stare on the carpet now, grinding her teeth.

"Well? Have I done something wrong? Do you hate me?" You feel bad getting all confrontational like that, but you've started, and you won't give it up until you have an answer.

"Do you?"

"Yes!" She puts her tea down and swivels around to look at you.

"I can't believe this. You're a me who never grew up. I can't believe I was ever so naïve."

You stare.

"And what makes you so different from me? What makes you so grown up?"

The frustration on her face couldn't be clearer.

"Do you rely on your Dipper for everything? The second Bill left with his body you should've gone after him, but you just went into my brother's arms crying like a goddamn infant."

"I wasn't crying," you protest.

"But you didn't go after him."

"What could I have done?"

"You should be willing to do anything!"

She pauses to calm down, and picks up her cup of tea again. "Dipper would've done anything and everything for us."

You lean back into the seat and hang your head. "You're right," you say. "He did."

"You could've used the journal," she says softly. You don't think she's really addressing it you.

You reach a hand out for it. It's not where you left it. "Where'd it go?" you ask.

Her eyes widen. Then narrow. The hand around her cup tightens and the knuckles go white.

"Oh, Dip," she says. "He probably used it as bait."

"Bait? For who?"

"For Bill."

"Which Bill? Your Bill or my Bill?"

"Use your head and figure it out."

"Why does Bill even want the journal so badly anyway?" you ask, thinking back.

She's gone back to closed-off body language, leaning away from you.

"Don't you know?" she asks haughtily.

"How would we?"

"You would if you read the journals."

"Well, sure, but we only have one."

"And you never bothered to look for the others?" Now she looks at you quizzically.

"Um, I think Dipper did. But I had other things to do." A trace of what could be guilt is beginning to dawn on you. The fact that Amable is looking at you so disappointed might be a reason. When she doesn't say anything, you try to defend yourself.

"It was summer vacation! I didn't want to spend time digging through the dirt and going through dusty attics. There were boys to catch."

Her expression changes to one of surprise.

"Summer… vacation?"

"Why do you sound so surprised. Why are you he-". You stop yourself. "Wait, are you telling me you live in gravity falls… permanently?" You internally berate yourself. You should've realized the moment she told you they owned the Tent.

"You don't," she says flatly. It's a statement, not a confirmation. She looks thoughtful, like she's come to an internal realization. She slowly takes small sips of her tea,

"I mean," you say nervously, "Gravity Falls is great and all but I couldn't live forever with Grunkle Stan. I'd miss our parents."

You must've said something wrong, because the tea cup in her hand shatters. She stands up and there's blood and hot tea dripping from her hands. The fireplace is to her back and your field of vision is filled with an angry silhouette.

"That's not fair!" she screams. You edge back into your seat, as far as you can.

"Why do you – you – " she stutters and it's like her throat's clogged up and she can't form words. She wrings her hands and points at you.

"Me?" you say quietly.

"Why do you get to be the happy one!?"

She falls to her knees and covers her face with her hands. Her shoulders are shaking and you realize she's crying. You push yourself off the chair so you're on the floor next to her. You lay a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," you say, for lack of anything better. She leans against you and you take it.

"Was it me?" she whispers brokenly. "Did me and Dip do something wrong? Something bad enough to deserve this?" Her voice is muffled by her hands. You stroke her back softly.

"I don't know what happened to you, but I know you didn't deserve it. Nobody deserves bad things."

She sniffles and moves back so she can look at you. You look at her and for the first time you see yourself in her.

"It hurts to know there's a reality where Mom and Dad lived."

It hurts you knowing there's a reality where your parents died. Your eyes well up with tears and you can't hold them back. You hug her again.

"I'm so sorry," you say, and you mean it. You can't even begin to empathize.

"I didn't want to be like this," she says into your ear. "But Dipper was moving on and I didn't want to get left behind. I didn't care what we did, so long as we did it together"

She breaks down into incoherency and sobbing and you hold her tighter.

"I hate demons and I hate magic. I should've stopped him when I could. But I just didn't want to lose him. I was so so selfish."

You don't know what to say, so you say nothing.

"Mabel?" she asks.

"Yes, Mabel?"

"Do you think we could ever be alike?"

A lightbulb turns on over your head. You push her off your shoulder and you stand up. You tug off your sweater.

"What are you-"

The sweater goes over her and you kneel to pull it down so her head comes through. She looks ridiculous with the long sleeves drooping by her side and her hair's messed up. Her expression is bewildered and confused and you giggle.

"We can start," you say.

She smiles and adjusts the sweater so she's properly wearing it.

"It's warm," she says. "I could never make it this good."

"I'll teach you," you say. You stand up and offer her a hand. She takes it and you pull her up.

"I'll give you something too. It'll help against Cipher in the future." She reaches up to her hair and slides the headband off.

"That's the stone Gideon uses!" you exclaim as you recognize it.

"I don't know who Gideon is but it'll protect you from demons," she says and she beckons you to tilt your head. The headband fits snugly into your locks. "The telekinetic powers are a nice bonus."

"Thank you!" you say. "But what are you going to do now without it?"

She shakes her head. "I'm done. I've been done for a while but I could never say it to Dip."

"C'mon," you say, pulling her hand. "Let's go find our brothers and tell them to stop this non-sense."

She shakes her head again but she doesn't resist you as you both go to the door. "This is Dip's life now. I couldn't tell him that."

"You gotta," you say. "He's gotta listen to you. You're the older twin, remember?"

She cracks a weak smile. "By only five minutes."

"It's enough."


End file.
